Darkest Night: Act Three Review

Darkest Night: Act Three is the latest
chapter in Hayden Fryer's dark and brooding comic book drama series.

Concluding the first story arc, 'Love', the issue is both written and
illustrated by Fryer. While reading this latest installment I almost
had to pinch myself: could this series really be from the same guy
that brought us Billy Demon Slayer, a story that featured a teen's
chainsaw-handed rampage through heaven?

Don't get me wrong I love Billy for
what it is, but Darkest Night represents something much more
sophisticated. It's single minded in both visual and narrative tone,
intricately paced and dialogue is used sparsely for the most part, but
to great effect. This series has proven to be a real master-class in
effective visual storytelling with this latest installment being no
different.

Act Three opens with protagonist Caleb
Marcus catching up with his mates for some beers, the culmination of
the positive note that Act Two left us on. The evening soon takes a
turn for the worse when an attempt at a casual hook-up reminds Caleb
of his ex-girlfriend, Carlie, and sends him spiraling back down into
despair. Let the brooding commence. Caleb soon returns to his old
ways of obsessing over Carlie and her new boyfriend, seemingly stuck
in a sort of emotional limbo. Despair soon turns to anger when Caleb
finds himself confronted by Carlie's new boyfriend upon attempting to reconnect with her.

Before I knew it I found myself
intoxicated by the drama. Believe me when I tell you no one is able
to convey an overwhelming sense of despair quite like Fryer. Through
generous use of silent panels and clever choice of images Fryer
deliberately keeps the issue at a snails pace, a tribute to his
visual story telling skills and mastery of the comic-book format. All
the while he slowly and methodically builds his way to a heart
wrenching climax in the books closing pages.

Act Three is a generous issue coming in
at a whopping 44 pages, about double the usual single issue page
count. These extra pages allow Fryer to take his time, culminating in a really satisfying slow burn. The icing on the cake is the stunning
painted cover that perfectly captures, the mood of this latest
installment.

It's shocking, surprising but most
importantly the perfect ending to this first chapter in what continues
to assert itself as a stand-out independent series. Fryer's
distinct drawing style and generous use of shading make for a book visually like no other. Although I'm pretty sure I said this about
the last two issues, Fryer's art continues to improve issue to issue.
It's become more technically sophisticated while continuing to
stand out stylistically.